John Medina famous quotes

If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.
-- John Medina

#Starting Over #Design #Brain

Based on research into the Picture Superiority Effect, when we read text alone, we are likely to remember only 10 percent of the information 3 days later. If that information is presented to us as text combined with a relevant image, we are likely to remember 65 percent of the information 3 days later.
-- John Medina

#Remember #Relevant #Superiority

Public speaking professionals say that you win or lose the battle to hold your audience in the first 30 seconds of a given presentation.
-- John Medina

#Winning #Battle #Public Speaking

We are human because we can fantasize.
-- John Medina

#Humans

The brain remembers the emotional component of an experience better than any other aspect.
-- John Medina

#Emotional #Brain #Remember

The brain cannot multitask. Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth. The brain naturally focuses on concepts sequentially, one at a time…To put it bluntly, research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing information-rich inputs simultaneously…Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more errors.
-- John Medina

#Errors #Brain #Tasks

To put it bluntly, research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously.
-- John Medina

#Attention #Research #Input

The brain doesn't pay attention to boring things,
-- John Medina

#Brain #Attention #Pay

What you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like—it literally rewires it.
-- John Medina

#Brain #Looks

Having a first child is like swallowing an intoxicating drink made of equal parts joy and terror, chased with a bucketful of transitions nobody ever tells you about.
-- John Medina

#Children #Joy #Transition

Here's why this matters: Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more errors.
-- John Medina

#Errors #Tasks #Matter

We must do a better job of encouraging lifelong curiosity.
-- John Medina

#Jobs #Curiosity #Lifelong

The problem in today’s economy is that people are typically starting a family at the very time they are also supposed to be doing their best work. They are trying to be productive at some of the most stressful times of their lives. What if companies took this unhappy collision of life events seriously? They could offer Gottman’s intervention as a benefit for every newly married, or newly pregnant, employee.
-- John Medina

#People #What If #Unhappy

Though we have been stuffing them into classrooms and cubicles for decades, our brains actually were built to survive in jungles and grasslands. A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary.
-- John Medina

#Exercise #Brain #Cubicles

What's obvious to you is obvious to you.
-- John Medina

#Obvious

If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you would probably design something like a classroom.
-- John Medina

#Design #Brain #Doing You

Empathy works so well because it does not require a solution. It requires only understanding.
-- John Medina

#Empathy #Understanding #Doe

You've got seconds to grab your audience's attention and only minutes to keep it.
-- John Medina

#Business #Attention #Minutes